


Three Rules

by TriffidsandCuckoos



Category: Primeval
Genre: Becker-centric, Gen, S03e08, S03e6, S03e7, Season/Series 03, old fic is old
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-04
Updated: 2012-06-04
Packaged: 2017-11-06 18:59:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/422098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TriffidsandCuckoos/pseuds/TriffidsandCuckoos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Whilst training at Sandhurst, Becker’s instructors had taught the recruits three fundamental rules to govern their lives: </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>First, to always follow orders;</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>Second, to never let their emotions get in the way;</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>And third, and most important of all, that there are no such things as heroes.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>Since coming to the ARC, all three have started to fall apart around him.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three Rules

Whilst training at Sandhurst, Becker’s instructors had taught the recruits three fundamental rules to govern their lives: 

First, to always follow orders;

Second, to never let their emotions get in the way;

And third, and most important of all, that there are no such things as heroes.

Since coming to the ARC, all three have started to fall apart around him.

_“Always follow orders.”_

Soldiers, Becker’s instructors informed him, should only think for themselves within the scope of their orders. Carrying out the order would be the priority, not getting fancy notions in his head about whether he should, or whether he wanted to, or anything else. Therefore he had done as Lester had said, as Nick as said, as Jenny had said, as far as he had let himself. He had obeyed them because that was his job, his mission. Simple as that.

Maybe it started changing under Jenny though. She was the woman in charge, but he also _wanted_ to do what she asked, even though a good soldier doesn’t have preferences, or favourites, or at least not beyond complaints with the other soldiers. And that’s what everybody has called him before: a good soldier. Becker is the best, and he always used to act accordingly.

Things didn’t really change until Christine Johnson took over. She had all the documents naming her as the new head of the ARC, so logically she gave him his orders now. _“Never question authority.”_

His rank didn’t matter, he could tell; he was just a grunt in this big, messy world of politics. And they were welcome to snipe and stab each other in the back all they wanted. Political machinations have always made him feel ill.

Technically he did follow orders. He caught Danny and the rest and brought them back with the artefact, just as she had asked. And she never ordered him _not_ to smuggle out that recording, did she? She didn’t even know he was recording those words.

Lying to yourself is surprisingly important as a soldier. He had found that out for himself out in Afghanistan, and before that in Iraq. 

So Becker had told himself that things hadn’t changed, even though everybody, including himself, knew it was otherwise. He could see it in the look on Lester’s face when he had given him that recording; heard it in Danny’s voice when he took back the ‘Soldier Boy’ comment. They knew he wasn’t who he had been trained to be anymore.

And he cared – cares, actually: he honestly cares what they think. Which comes a little too close to Rule Two: _“Never let your emotions get in the way.”_

As anybody could have told him – as he was perfectly capable of telling himself – he had compromised a high ranking official out of loyalty, even _respect_ for what they had built here. Suddenly he was getting himself dragged into every situation possible and a few that weren’t, then being held back from what was right by the rules because of what was right by _them_. Including not shooting a bloody _dinosaur_.

Because really. _Dinosaurs_. If his old unit could see him now…

Abby’s hot-headed, completely illogical run into the future to save her brother made no sense whatsoever. Becker doesn’t really have any family, save for the men he had fought alongside, who have admittedly become closer than brothers. Even so, he wouldn’t do anything that rash for them, because they wouldn’t want him to. They would _know_ it was a stupid risk that had every chance of failing. Yet on this little team just suggesting they wait for back-up apparently makes _him_ the bad guy.

From what he could tell beforehand, from what Connor had muttered while convincing him to do that stupid display to save a _pet_ (why can Becker never say no to these people?), Jack isn’t worth nearly a fraction of any of the men on his old unit, and yet Becker had had to help save him against impossible odds. They had been surrounded by creatures he had never even started to imagine before, and yet his (mostly) calm and reasoned suggestions of waiting were dismissed. 

In that moment, he had sworn to himself that as soon as he could, if he ever got out of there, he was going to leave this craziness behind and get back to his old emotionless ‘Soldier Boy’ self. Things had been so much simpler when he had been professional about this.

Except when they had finally reached Jack, Becker had found himself acting just the opposite of what he wanted: running off, shooting his gun like a maniac, chased by creatures in the bloody _future_ , and hoping his ex-instructors never found out about this. While his rational mind was frantically scrambling around for a plan, he had let those emotions take over. Luckily for him, he’s very used to turning fear into something useful.

When they had finally made it home, Connor had told him one thing, similar but slightly less flattering than Sarah a few weeks before: “You know, you can be a real hero when you want to be.”

And there was Rule Three.

_“There are no such things as heroes,”_ all of his instructors had yelled at the recruits at least once a day. Out in the wars, thinking you could be the only one to save the day got you killed, nothing else. You might be a hero if you broke the rules, but, more likely, you might be dead, and a corpse with delusions of grandeur was no good to anybody.

Except lately he’s started to think that heroes can exist beyond the wars after all. In so little time, he’s seen a lot to impress him.

Connor, Abby, Sarah, all pushing through despite what faces them. Even if it is because he’s in love with her, Connor would sacrifice himself for Abi a thousand times and never think twice about doing it again. Abby risked her own life to save her brother, and wasn’t afraid to face down a knight (a word he’s starting to use a little too casually) for a dinosaur. Maybe Sarah has never taken on an armed man alone with no weapons (not yet, at least), but she knows what she can do and takes it to the extremes that she can. She is so scared, but she doesn’t stop.

Of course, there’s also Danny. A man who grew up thinking his brother had been killed by a friend, only to accept the truth and then fight his way into the ARC to stop it happening again. Apart from when the new leader is breaking in (although that can be amusing), or glaring him down (yet Becker does like a challenge), or scheming to drive him insane (but that’s never personal, he can tell), Becker’s never been so glad not to have arrested somebody. After Nick, after Jenny, it had seemed impossible that anybody else could take over the team. But that’s Danny: never afraid of a challenge, and never beaten by one either.

It’s not just the current team either. Jenny was there when they needed her, even when she was grieving herself. And, when she didn’t think she could do it anymore, she knew the right thing to do then too. His instructors always did say that sometimes the best strategy was a retreat.

Before that, there was Nick. Gunned down by his own wife to do the right thing. Becker barely knew the man, but apparently he missed out on something special. Somebody who wanted to make the world better.

And Becker hears stories about his predecessor, Stephen. Locked in with those creatures to save lives. 

More than anything, he wishes he could have met him, to know how he could do that. To know how he could ever follow that. To ask him just what he’s supposed to do now, in this brave new world that they never trained him for.

_“There are no heroes.”_

They were wrong, back at Sandhurst. There _are_ heroes, and in more ways than they ever said or understood.

Becker doesn’t want to be a hero.

That doesn’t mean he hasn’t started believing in them.


End file.
